I'm as big a Bama homer as anyone but you're crazy if you think this game is going to be that one-sided. This is going to be a huge test for both sides of the ball. Not to mention Les has done very well in Tuscaloosa. If we win by more than 7 that would be a surprise.

Haha, seriously A & M. Manziel could murder someone and you response would be "oh that is a dummy, fake blood, God you all are such haters."
Just own the fact that he cheated - big deal? The NCAA is a joke so who cares?

I think you have to look at the context of last year's loss as well.
First of all Bama just came off there most physical game of the year in LSU - emotions were high, and it is tough to get going for two games in a row.
Second, A & M took Bama completely by surprise. If you watch that first quarter there are looks of befuddlement all along the Bama sideline. And as you mention, the game does start to settle down in the second half - but it was too little too late for Alabama.
Third, the turnover game. We had some brutal turnovers.
Call them excuses but they are major factors that led to the loss last year. I think this game shapes up much differently than the previous meeting. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Manziel air it out 85% of the time. Which, his arm is looking pretty good this year.
However, there is much unknown about both teams. The VT game and the SHSU and Rice games only show us minor glimpses of either team.

I live in Big 12 country (Oklahoma) and the undue animosity is relentless. It is almost a daily occurrence that some talking head brings up OK State supposedly getting robbed for the national championship game two years ago. That they were only two plays away from being in that game. Oh really? As I recall Bama was only two plays away from beating LSU in the regular season.

It all depends on Hugh's ability to coordinate and effectively use all of that talent. How many times have teams had excellent recruiting classes yet they yield mediocre results. * Cough, cough* Texas *Cough, cough* USC.

Kind of alarming that no Bama DT's made the list. I agree with this top-ten completely but if there was one weakness in the defensive game that was strikingly obvious it was the pass rush. Look back to games like LSU and there were blitz packages all over the place but Mettenberger had plenty of time to pick the secondary apart.

Look at three and arguably all four of those QB's you mentioned - all of them are dual threat quarterbacks. As an Alabama fan, I saw this coming since the Ole Miss game. For some reason our scheme just doesn't allow for much in the way of stopping that dual threat. However, I will give Alabama a little bit against A & M we did make some adjustments and held Manziel to just 9 points through the last three quarters of the game.
Ultimately it comes down to one aspect for Alabama - putting pressure on Murray.

Most of the articles about the ad nauseum "Johnny Football" need to take a close look at the losses and the close victories. A & M has had a few. Against strong defenses, they have not faired very well and against strong offenses that defense does not fair well at all. Look at Ole Miss and La Tech both of those were flag football games which came down to a few key plays/turnovers.

Its only shoddy play calling if a team loses. I am a die-hard Alabama fan but their
play calling last night was terrible. The inefficient secondary blitzing almost killed Bama,
the complete abandonment of the running game almost the entire second half.

If Mettenberger can move the chains then the game becomes a more even playing field. If Mettenberger is ineffective this is a long uphill battle. But I wouldn't expect any less from a homer article. In fact I believe these were his words before the 21-0 BCS game "While it will be close, I’m confident the LSU Tigers will have what it takes to bring home the victory." That worked out well...

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